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Heinrich George | Helmut Kind | Karl Heinrich | Ewald Ernst | Kurt Müller | Alfred Weiland | Arno Wend | Helmut Brandt | Georg Dertinger | Max Fechner | Karl Wilhelm Fricke | Wolfgang Harich | Walter Janka | Walter Linse | Paul Merker | Sigrid Paul | Rudolf Bahro | Heinz Brandt | Jürgen Fuchs | Gerulf Pannach | Michael Sallmann | Hans-Joachim Helwig-Wilson | Bärbel Bohley | Freya Klier | Stephan Krawczyk | Vera Lengsfeld | Ulrike Poppe
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 The songwriter Stephan Krawczyk was one of the prominent critics of the SED dictatorship in the late 1980s. Born in 1955 in Weida, he joined the Socialist Unity Party (SED) after his military service in 1976. In 1978 he began a degree in classical guitar in Weimar. In 1981 he was awarded with the prize for the best chanteur of the GDR. After moving to Berlin in 1984, he made friends with the director Freya Klier. In 1985 he resigned from the SED and was banned from work due to his critical texts. As a result, he could occur only perform in churches and community rooms. His lyrics and songs were soon very popular in ecclesiastical opposition circles, which prompted the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) to conduct to extensive surveillance and subversive measures. In November 1987 he and Freya Klier wrote a letter to the SED Politburo member Kurt Hager, about respect of human rights, revoking their work bans, and the independence of art and culture in the GDR. On the way to an official demonstration in which he wanted to participate with his own banner, he was arrested and taken to the remand prison in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen in January 1988. Under threat of a long prison sentence he was compelled to accept deportation to the West. Together with Freya Klier, he was deported in the Federal Republic of Germany in early February 1988. There he played many concerts and tours abroad. In 2002 he gave concert for the first time at the Memorial Berlin-Hohenschönhausen. |
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